Employee’s Home Office Qualifies as Regular and Established Place of Business

The court denied one defendant's motion to dismiss for improper venue because defendant had a regular and established place of business through an employee's home office in the forum. "⁠[One defendant's] New York employee's home office is not merely a 'sporadic' or isolated work environment. . . . [S]ales representatives 'contact[] a prospective customer at a potential customer's office' and 'take initial sales orders.'. . . Although [defendant] does not require sales people to live in their assigned territory, [it] admits that it 'tries to hire people living within their assigned sales territory,' one of which is New York. Indeed, [defendant's] job postings reveal that it seeks out territory managers for specific locations. . . . And . . . sales agents must contact potential customers at their offices and conduct trainings when [defendant's] products arrive. All of these tasks necessitate proximity to customers."

RegenLab USA LLC v. Estar Technologies Ltd. et al, 1-16-cv-08771 (NYSD August 15, 2018, Order) (Carter, Jr., USDJ)